COP4342 - Spring 2017

Text message reformatting

In this assignment, you are asked to do reformat the all-caps text messages as they were distributed by the National Weather Service until May 10, 2016, when this format was finally retired.

These messages usually appeared something like

      SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT

      NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL

      845 AM EDT WED SEP 12 2007

      SATELLITE AND NWS RADAR OBSERVATIONS INDICATE THAT THE AREA OF LOW
      PRESSURE IN THE NORTHWESTERN GULF OF MEXICO IS BECOMING BETTER
      ORGANIZED THIS MORNING. THIS SYSTEM COULD BECOME A TROPICAL
      DEPRESSION LATER TODAY...AND AN AIR FORCE RESERVE UNIT
      RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT WILL INVESTIGATE THE AREA EARLY THIS
      AFTERNOON. THE LOW IS MOVING SLOWLY NORTH-NORTHWESTWARD...AND
      REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT IT BECOMES A TROPICAL CYCLONE...HEAVY
      RAINS ARE EXPECTED TO SPREAD ACROSS SOUTHEASTERN TEXAS AND
      LOUISIANA OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. FOR INFORMATION SPECIFIC
      TO YOUR AREA...PLEASE CONSULT STATEMENTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL NWS
      FORECAST OFFICE.

      FORECASTER FRANKLIN

Your task is to write a shell script that accepts one of these messages and reformats it.

The Unix tools that your shell script may use are

• tr
• fmt
• sed
• mv and cp
• grep, fgrep, and egrep
• cat
• sort

You can use any built-ins that you like from bash, including such items as echo, iteration constructions, and variable assignment.

You may not use any other general programming language, such as C, Perl, Python, or even awk.

Specifications

Your program should look to see if there is an argument; if so, then it should assume that the argument is a file name and try to work on that file. If there is no file, it should assume that input is coming from standard input.

All output should go to standard out.

Please name your shell script NWS.sh.

The new file should be reformatted in the following manner:

• The resulting output to stdout should be formatted to 100 columns.
• Word spacing inside of paragraphs should be made uniformly one space between words. After commas, periods, or ellipses, you can choose what kind of spacing rules you like as long as the results resemble ordinary typed English.
• Spacing outside of paragraphs should stay the same.
• Case should be changed to normal English rather than all-caps.

  [However, with respect to proper names, I recognize that this problem is non-deterministic, and you may spend as much (or as little) time as you like on the proper names problem. (Hint: to do this, you can create static (or even dynamic) data files that provide spelling hints.)]

For instance, the previous message could be reformatted to:

     Special tropical disturbance statement

     NWS TPC/National Hurricane Center Miami FL

     845 am EDT Wed Sep 12 2007

     Satellite and NWS radar observations indicate that the area of low pressure in the northwestern
     Gulf of Mexico is becoming better organized this morning. This system could become a tropical
     depression later today...and an Air Force reserve unit reconnaissance aircraft will investigate
     the area early this afternoon. The low is moving slowly north-northwestward...and regardless
     of whether or not it becomes a tropical cyclone...heavy rains are expected to spread across
     southeastern Texas and Louisiana over the next couple of days. For information specific to
     your area...please consult statements issued by your local NWS forecast office.

     Forecaster Franklin

Here are a number of example input and output files that you can use for testing:

Sample Input File	Corresponding Sample Output File
advisory.txt	advisory.txt.out
advisory.txt-2	advisory.txt-2.out
discussion.txt	discussion.txt.out
outlook.txt	outlook.txt.out
summary.txt	summary.txt.out
technical_advisory.txt-2	technical_advisory.txt-2.out